Fisher: Cyclist’s supporters show up for court

Share this:

Robert Schiro appears for a plea hearing at Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose, Calif. on Friday, May 7, 2010. Robert Shiro is to stand trail in the hit and run accident involving cyclist Ashley Jackson on April 19, 2009. (Jim Gensheimer/Mercury News)

Robert Schiro waits in the courtroom, free on bail, after a plea hearing at Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose, Calif. on Friday, May 7, 2010. Robert Shiro is to stand trail in the hit and run accident involving cyclist Ashley Jackson on April 19, 2009. (Jim Gensheimer/Mercury News)

Sound

The gallery will resume inseconds

Ashley Jackson talks to cyclist friends outside the courthouse after a plea hearing for Robert Schiro at Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose, Calif. on Friday, May 7, 2010. Robert Shiro is to stand trail in the hit and run accident involving cyclist Ashley Jackson on April 19, 2009. (Jim Gensheimer/Mercury News)

Ashley Jackson stands outside the courthouse after a plea hearing for Robert Schiro at Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose, Calif. on Friday, May 7, 2010. Robert Shiro is to stand trail in the hit and run accident involving cyclist Ashley Jackson on April 19, 2009. (Jim Gensheimer/Mercury News)

Ashley Jackson and her fiancee, Dave Nelson, pose for a portrait outside the courthouse after a plea hearing for Robert Schiro at Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose, Calif. on Friday, May 7, 2010. Robert Shiro is to stand trail in the hit and run accident involving cyclist Ashley Jackson on April 19, 2009. (Jim Gensheimer/Mercury News)

Robert Schiro waits in the courtroom, free on bail, after a plea hearing at Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose, Calif. on Friday, May 7, 2010. Robert Shiro is to stand trail in the hit and run accident involving cyclist Ashley Jackson on April 19, 2009. (Jim Gensheimer/Mercury News)

Yukie Nakamura rode her bicycle from Los Altos to the Hall of Justice in San Jose and walked into the courtroom in her blue and white polka-dot cycling outfit.

Jennifer Coler brought her two little boys, Dash and Harper, in a jogging stroller. Sinikka Jensen drove from Los Gatos and waited half an hour to watch a five-minute court appearance, just so she could offer moral support to a courageous woman she had never met: cyclist Ashley Jackson.

I call them Ashley’s Army, and they are spread out all over the world. Since my column Wednesday chronicled the hit-and-run accident that left Jackson severely brain damaged and her fiance’s months-long effort to find the person who hit her, I’ve been deluged with e-mails, phone calls and online comments from people who want to help Jackson or just want to vent their anger at the person charged with the crime, Robert Schiro of Saratoga.

The story roared around the world on the Internet, and back came messages from cyclists from Scotland to Australia with their own hair-raising crash stories. I also heard from drivers who are scared to death of hitting bicycles they can’t see. And there was one message from a guy who does marketing for NASCAR and wants to join forces with cyclists to promote sharing the road.

Ashley’s Army was out in force Friday afternoon in Judge Jeremy Nadler’s courtroom, where Schiro was scheduled to enter a plea to felony hit and run and driving with a suspended license.

“I had to come because my husband was hit on his bicycle last year and the driver never stopped,” Jensen told me. “I don’t understand how a bike can hit a car and the driver doesn’t hear it, do you?”

Outside the courtroom before the case was called, there was almost an air of celebration among the two dozen well-wishers. Jackson, 25 and visibly pregnant, went around greeting everyone who came, even those she didn’t know. Her mother and stepfather were there, along with her fiance, Dave Nelson, and his family. Everyone seemed relieved to have the case going to court at last.

The crash

Jackson and Nelson were hit by a BMW while riding in a bike lane on Highway 9 in Saratoga on April 19, 2009. The car drove off, but Nelson got a look at it and the police impounded damaged Schiro’s car within a few weeks. But Schiro denied being behind the wheel that day, and no charges were filed against him until last month.

Jackson suffered multiple injuries. She didn’t have health insurance and amassed more than $100,000 in medical bills. Though she’s made amazing progress, she still is weak on her left side and has double vision.

“We let law enforcement do its job,” said her attorney, Lewis Van Blois. “Now we are looking for fair compensation and justice.”

In addition to being hit with the lawsuit, Schiro found himself facing more serious charges Friday. Because of the severity of Jackson’s injuries, Assistant District Attorney Janet Berry added a second count of hit and run resulting in “serious, permanent injury,” which carries a sentence of up to four years in prison.

Inside the courtroom, Schiro sat by himself. The heavy-set 70-year-old with receding red hair avoided the eyes of Jackson’s entourage and shielded his face from the news camera. He and his attorney, Guy Jinkerson, asked that the case be continued until May 21. The judge agreed.

The whole thing took less than five minutes, but for the members of Ashley’s Army, it was important to make a statement with their presence.

As Coler lifted little Harper into his stroller, she burst into tears.

“I don’t know why this is so emotional for me,” she said, apologizing.

But I can guess why. Like so many cyclists, Coler has experienced the shock and fear of being hit by a car. She told me about the time she was biking, pulling her kids behind in one of those baby bike trailers, and a car bumped into them.

Question we all ask

“The driver was talking on the phone and she pulled over, but then she just took off,” she said, wiping her eyes. “The kids were fine, everyone was fine, but why would someone just drive away?”

That’s the question, isn’t it? Why would someone just drive away? Assuming this case goes to trial, that’s the question the prosecutor will be asking Robert Schiro. And you can bet Ashley’s Army will be there to hear his answer.

"There is a general recognition that we don't need these military-style weapons in New Zealand, so it's very easy to win cross-party support for this," said Mark Mitchell, who was defense minister in the previous, center-right government and who supports the ban initiated by the center-left-led Labour Party.